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Inside The Game/Part 2
Meanwhile, the Game Master is playing the final battle against Sarkamel in his game, where he was following the pattern of direction pad presses that his opponent was sending him. "You'll never escape the world of Gametron, you little fool," Sarkamel taunted. "We'll see about that," the Game Master said. "Come on, let's see what you got." The Game Master focused his concentration on following the pattern, making sure he pressed the direction pad in the right direction at the right moment, even as more and more arrows appeared on the screen, making the situation even more tense. Just a minute or so later, Sarkamel ranted, "Oh, that's not fair! You've beaten me at my own game!" "YES! YES! YES!" the Game Master shouted in triumph. "I've beaten the game!" "Atariendo, I think it's time you need to go outside and play," his mother called from outside the room. "You've been spending too much time in front of your magic mirror playing your games." The Game Master groaned. "Okay, Mother, I'll do that just as soon as I clean up my room," he responded. He then looked around the room before his eyes rested on the Mirror Net terminal he had set up on his desk. "I might as well go and see what's going on in the world at this moment. Maybe someone's got a game system of their own hooked up to their magic mirror, either a Hex Box or a MageStation." He went over to the Mirror Net and typed in a command that caused the mirror to display all sorts of things he was interested in, mostly games. It was during his browsing that he found mention of Handy Smurf and his new invention, the Game Wand. "Game Wand? Never heard of that system before," he said as he clicked onto the link to the article and saw pictures of Handy showing off the games that were on it to his fellow Smurfs that he posted, the Smurfs having fun trying to play the games with a remote control device. "Boy, those games seem rather boring," the Game Master said in disgust. "I can't imagine anyone wanting to swing around a wand and pretend that they're playing sports. They need to have a better set of games to play." He thought about the game he was playing on the Hex Box One for a moment and then inspiration finally hit him. "I know...why don't I send them one of my games and see if they can play it on their system? Of course, I need to send them a little surprise with the game so that I can get my revenge on them for defeating me at Wizard Takes All." The Game Master laughed maliciously at the thought of revenge as he typed in the commands on his Mirror Net terminal. ----- In the village, Handy was showing Empath, Tapper, and Duncan a new accessory that he created for the Game Wand. "This here is a special Game Wand Pro Controller which I designed for games that don't need to use the remote controller," Handy said as he handed to them the accessory. Empath was the first to examine it. "It certainly has a shape that feels comfortable to hold in both hands," he said while holding the controller and pressing its buttons. "But what's with all those buttons and those two small sticks, laddie?" Duncan asked as he was handed the controller to test out how it felt in his hands. "Those buttons are for the various functions you'll be able to smurf in games that will require them, Duncan," Handy answered. "There are two that are smurfed on each of its shoulders, plus four that are smurfed in a diamond pattern on the right side. The Start and Select buttons are smurfed in the center. The two small sticks will be for movement and camera control -- the one on the left smurfs movement and the one on the right smurfs camera control." "It's quite an unusual device that you smurfed, but do you have any games that can smurf use of this controller, my good Handy?" Tapper asked as he examined the controller for himself. "Not yet, but I'm working on smurfing such a game for the Game Wand, Tapper," Handy said. "You can still smurf on the system with the controller and smurf around the current game menu, even if you can't play any games with it." "That center button in the middle of the controller seems to be what turns on the system, if this smurf understands this correctly," Empath said. "Well, might as well try it, if that's all that it can smurf for now," Tapper said. He then pressed the button and the Game Wand game screen came on the window vision. "Great Ancestors, where did that game come from -- the one that is called GAMETRON?" Empath asked when he noticed it on the screen. "Smurfs me, Empath, for I haven't smurfed of that game before," Handy said, also as surprised as Empath was for seeing it appear on the game menu. "Well, why don't you try smurfing that game to see what it smurfs?" Duncan suggested. "I'll leave the trial session of that game in your hands, Empath, since you would undersmurf what that game requires you to do better than I would," Tapper said as he handed the controller over to Empath. Empath sighed. "Well, here goes," he said as he pressed the Start button. The game screen displayed a futuristic-looking arena. "Welcome to Gametron, rookie, where you will play before the evil Sarkamel in the Arena," the game announced. "Would you like to begin the first match of Frizbattle?" "Sarkamel?" Empath asked. "Michty me, why does that name smurf like that of the evil wizard that used to smurf after us here in the forest?" Duncan wondered. "I have a very uncomfortable feeling about this game, my friends, like it isn't supposed to be here on the Game Wand, but somebody must have smurfed it to us for some evil purpose," Tapper said. "Maybe you're right, Tapper, but at least we should find out what this game is about first before we make any judgments," Empath said. He pressed the button and soon he saw that he was in control of the warrior with blue glowing lines fighting against the warrior with orange glowing lines. Empath tried to play the first round as best as he could to figure out how to use the controls, but unfortunately he ended up losing as the ring thrown by the orange warrior sliced through his blue warrior, causing him to vanish in a flash of light. "Oooh, that's terrible, laddie," Duncan said, making a grimace. "You barely lasted a minute against your opponent." "I wonder how anyone is supposed to play this game without even instructions to smurf you how to play," Handy said. "It is prompting if we wish to run a tutorial for a practice session, Handy," Empath said, reading what he saw on the screen. "Perhaps that would best orient us into being comfortable enough with the controls so we can play the game the way it's meant to be played." "I'm going to leave this game-testing in your hands, my friends, but I'll be smurfing over this thing to make sure what I'm sensing in my spirit does not happen," Tapper said. After Tapper walked away from the window vision screen, Empath, Duncan, and Handy were left talking among themselves. "I just don't undersmurf how Tapper can be so fearful of some new game being smurfed on my Game Wand from who-knows-where," Handy said. "That's just the way he is, laddie," Duncan said. "If something doesn't smurf well in his spirit, no matter how harmless it may appear, he's going to be smurfing time praying to his Almighty about it." "There's nothing wrong with approaching this new game with a bit of caution, my fellow Smurfs," Empath said. "For now, we should leave that part to Tapper and just focus on seeing how this game plays and whether other Smurfs might want to play it." ----- Soon word spread throughout the village that Handy's Game Wand now has a new game to play on it. The Smurflings tried it out for themselves and found it to be fun and challenging, and eventually so did the adult Smurfs. Most nights Tapper would see the Smurfs gather round the window vision to play with the new game on the Game Wand, using the new controller Handy had made for it. Empath and Smurfette sat by themselves at the counter of Tapper's Tavern, watching from a distance at the Smurfs taking turns playing through the game, trying their best to get past the Frizbattle stage with varying results. "This smurf senses that you're uncomfortable with the new game that the Smurfs are playing on the Game Wand, Smurfette," Empath said. "It looks like fun, Empath, but it smurfs to be more challenging than something I would be able to handle, and besides it smurfs to be more like the type of game the boy Smurfs would play," Smurfette said. "That is rather unfortunate that its design seems to be made for male players than for female players, Smurfette," Empath said. "Maybe you can ask Handy if he can make a game that is more suited for female players." "Maybe, but I'm afraid that he would just smurf it the wrong way and make the game a little too...girlish for my tastes," Smurfette said. Empath snickered. "This smurf can understand that feeling, Smurfette. Making a game that just emphasizes that it was made for females in the most condescending way possible wouldn't really help make it become popular with anyone else." Papa Smurf joined Empath and Smurfette at the counter as he asked for a cup of smurfberry tea. "I see that my little Smurfs are all busy entersmurfing themselves with this new game Handy had smurfed on the Game Wand," he commented. "That's just the thing, Papa Smurf...Handy didn't even invent the game," Empath said. "He and this smurf just found it on the Game Wand when we turned it on to test out a new controller." "So where did the game come from, if Handy didn't invent it, Empath?" Smurfette asked. "This smurf doesn't know, and neither does Handy, Smurfette," Empath answered. "We're trying to find out where it originates from, and why it just appeared on the Game Wand, and who possibly sent it to us if it came from somewhere." "So far it doesn't seem to be smurfing any harm to my little Smurfs, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "Not yet as far as this smurf can see, Papa Smurf, but this smurf and Tapper are going to keep our eyes open to watch out for anything that might happen with this game," Empath said. Just then, Hefty came away from the crowd sitting around the window vision. "Another glass of Vita-Juice for me, Tapper," Hefty requested. "I'm surprised to see how smurfing with your fellow Smurfs around the Game Wand, trying out the game that's making the Smurfs all excited," Tapper said as he refilled Hefty's glass with his order. "Normally I wouldn't be smurfing these types of games, but Gutsy got me hooked into smurfing out the Gametron game, and now I can't seem to smurf myself away from it, Tapper," Hefty said as he received the refilled glass and started drinking from it. "So how far have you gotten into the game, Hefty?" Empath asked. "I'm already past the Frizbattle level, and I smurfed past the Ring Ball Duel level, and now I'm smurfing the Beamcycle level," Hefty answered. "That part of the game's really smurfing my tail, Empath." "I'm sure you'll get through that part, Hefty," Smurfette said encouragingly. "He's certainly not the type of Smurf that would smurf down from a challenge, no matter what kind of game he's smurfing, my dear Smurfette," Tapper said. "Hey, Hefty, are you going to beat me in the Tank Battles again?" Duncan called out. "I'll be there in a minute, Gutsy," Hefty called back. He sighed as he said, "Well, looks like Hefty's smurfing back to the Game Wand to show them how the game is played. I just hope that I can smurf to the end of that game soon." With that, he swallowed down his Vita-Juice in one gulp and returned to the crowd gathered around the window vision. Polaris joined Empath, Smurfette, and Papa Smurf at the counter. "So how does the new game look to you, Polaris?" Empath asked. "Do you feel like you want to give it a try sometime soon?" "This one is rather satisfied with the less rigorous entertainments that already exist in the Smurf Village, Empath," Polaris answered. "This one does not feel the need to join the other Smurfs in playing the new game that is available on the Game Wand, however exciting it may be to you." "I can undersmurf how you feel, Polaris," Papa Smurf said. "I'm just wondering for myself how long the interest in this new game is going to last." "From what this smurf knows of the game, it will probably last until somebody reaches the end of the game, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "What's at the end of the game, Empath?" Smurfette asked. "It's supposed to be what's called a 'final boss battle', where the player faces off against the evil Sarkamel in a Dance of Death duel, Smurfette," Empath answered. "The Dance of Death?" Papa Smurf asked, sounding curious. "It's a follow-the-pattern game where the player follows a pattern of direction arrows by pressing the corresponding direction on the direction pad, Papa Smurf," Empath explained. "This one is curious to see who will reach the end and what will happen when they do reach the end, Empath," Polaris said. "This smurf is certain we will find out soon enough, Polaris," Empath said. ----- Eventually Tapper ended up closing the tavern and sending everyone home to bed, which made those who wanted to play the Game Wand's new game upset, but they nonetheless complied. Hefty went home to his bed and tried to go to sleep, but somehow he couldn't find rest, as the desire to beat the game and find out what was at the end of the game haunted him. He got up in the middle of the night and watched to make sure Tapper was asleep in his bedroom before he himself quietly sneaked into the tavern to turn on the Game Wand and start playing Gametron again from the beginning. He turned down the volume of the window vision to make sure that Tapper wouldn't be awakened by his friend's late-night intrusion into the tavern. Hefty played as quietly as he could, passing again through the levels that he had already beaten with ease. He was back at the Tank Battles level, and this time he managed to get through the entire maze with his Game Tank still intact, blasting through all the barricades and Patrolbots that were in his way. He didn't care if it took him all night to beat the game. He was intending to play it all the way to the end and deal with the consequences later. Finally he had reached the final boss battle with the main nemesis of the game, Sarkamel. "You've made it this far, you little warrior," Sarkamel sneered. "Do you think you have what it takes to defeat me, the great and powerful Sarkamel?" "I'm more than ready for you, creep," Hefty responded, speaking low. Then the final boss battle commenced. Hefty saw that he needed to follow the pattern of directional pad presses that were coming toward his on-screen player. As skillfully as he could, Hefty gripped the controller and pressed the direction pad in time to intercept the arrows as they came toward him, making sure none of them rolled off the screen. "Very good, rookie, but let's see how you can handle dancing with me at a faster beat," Sarkamel challenged after the first round was over. Then came the direction arrows, scrolling toward the on-screen player faster than before. Hefty kept himself glued to the screen, pressing the direction pad to intercept each arrow as they came faster and faster towards him. The following round was even faster than that, but Hefty wasn't going to give in and quit. He kept the pace with his on-screen adversary sending the direction arrows towards him at a pace that made Hefty's hands sweat. Just a minute or so later, Sarkamel ranted, "Oh, that's not fair! You've beaten me at my own game!" Hefty dropped the controller to the floor and thrust his arms into the air. "YES! I did it! I finally beat the game!" he spoke in triumph. Just then, the window vision screen went black and a deep voice said, "CONGRATULATIONS, ROOKIE. YOU'VE ONLY BEATEN THE GAME FROM YOUR OWN GAME SYSTEM. LET'S SEE HOW YOU CAN HANDLE PLAYING IT FOR REAL IN MY WORLD." "Play it in your world?" Hefty asked, unsure of what was going on. "Hey, is this supposed to be part of the game?" As if to answer that question, a thin concentrated beam of light came from the window vision screen and struck Hefty, immobilizing him and turning him into what resembled a translucent three-dimensional computer model. Then another beam came from the screen and started erasing Hefty, starting from the top of his hat and making its way down to his feet. Then the window vision screen turned itself off as Hefty completely disappeared from the tavern. A short while later, Tapper came down from his bedroom, yawning as if he had just been awakened by something. He went over to where the window vision and the Game Wand were set up and noticed that the game controller was on the floor. He turned on the window vision and saw that the Game Wand was still active, but it had now reverted to the game menu screen. Then Tapper had a revelation that made him gasp. "Great Smurfiny Crickets! Somebody has been smurfing in my tavern to play the Gametron game...and it was Hefty!" Smurf to Part 3 Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:Inside The Game chapters